What maybe could have happened
by sunflower10
Summary: Sam and Jack have always had to put their jobs first, but what if they hadn't? We've seen alternate realities where they are together, why couldn't that have happened in this reality? Maybe they need a push from some very influential young boys...
1. Chapter 1

Stargate Fan Fic

"Want more coffee, Daniel?"

Daniel always wanted more coffee, so "Yes, thanks Sam" was naturally his response.

The break room was only slightly crowded for the time of day it was, just after lunch. Most people had gone about their business on base, but a few stragglers could be found lurking at their tables alone or with some company. Most everyone had coffee; it was the staple of life at the Cheyenne Mt. complex, well that and life threatening situations, especially for one particular group who could always be seen together on days like this just after lunch time.

Sam came back to their table with two cups of coffee and she continued her conversation with Vala.

"I only said 'let's make babies' once, now he holds it over my head like it was some horrible thing! I don't know why he won't just give in to me, I mean look at me! I'm cute right?" Sam couldn't really reply to that. They were talking about Daniel, Vala usually was talking about Daniel, she had some sort of fascination with him. He was not amused, and so he retaliated with some banter about her with Teal'c.

"She is…just… CRAZY!" was pretty much all he could come up with. Cam just sat idly by, enjoying his small amount of down time and his family.

"UNSCHEDULED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION"

Sam and Cam were the first up and out the door towards the control room, quickly followed by the whole crew. "Why do we always have to go to the control room when there's an 'unscheduled off-world activation?'" Vala wondered out loud, but no one answered her.

"Who is it?" Sam asked when they arrived. The General was already there, looming over Walter trying to determine what was going on before it happened. A threat assessment with no actually data, he would usually get it spot on, too, which is probably why he was in charge.

"Actually, Colonel, it's you. I mean it's an SG1 GDO code," Walter replied from his chair in front of his computer. Sam immediately sat down next to him and started typing things.

"Well we're all here, right," Cam said, and counted his team members just to be sure. "Yeah, all here."

"So who's coming through the gate? Open the iris, Walter," Sam ordered. As soon as the iris was open a boy of about 16 walked out of the shimmering wormhole. They boy looked up at the team in the control room and his face widened in a huge smile.

"Mom!" Was all he said, as he stared directly at Col. Carter.


	2. Chapter 2

She was flabbergasted, as was the rest of the team as they looked from her to the boy. He didn't look a thing like her, in fact, if anyone, he looked like General O'Neill.

Sam got up from her seat and went down to find out exactly what was going on. As she walked into the Gate room the airmen lowered their weapons, she cautiously approached the boy. He ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I knew if I came here I'd find you!" He said while he had her in his arms.

Pushing away from him, she looked him in the face, more and more she realized how much he looked like Jack.

"Who are you?" She asked him, holding him at arms length. "I'm Charlie! Maybe I look different in this reality…" he said. Sam had stopped breathing when he said his name, not realizing it she inhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry, you said what now?"

"What?"

"You're who?"

"Charlie O'Neill, your step-son"

"Ok, let's see." She was ever so slightly unnerved with that, although he had said something… "Um, you said something about another reality, where are you from"

"I came from another reality where you are my step mother and Jack O'Neill is my father, obviously." He said it with such an air of 'duh'.

Alright, they had happened upon many alternate realities, but how he came here was still a mystery to Sam, he was just a boy after all. "Okay, lets get you to a secure room" She needed to ask this kid a few questions, more like a whole stinckin' lot of questions  
She walked him past an almost catatonic Daniel, who had followed her down, and took Charlie to the briefing room.

Once there, the interrogation began.

"How did you get here, why did you come here, please don't call me 'mom,'"

"I came through the Stargate, in my reality we have perfected the ability to travel between space-times. And what would you like me to call you?" He responded to each of her questions the same way she had asked them, quickly and to the point, all with a little smile on his lips.

"Sam is fine" She needed him to know she was not his mother, or step mother, or anything. She was a stranger to him, as he was a stranger to her.

"Okay, Sam, I came here because I miss you and dad."

"Where are your parents," Sam asked, still trying to remind Charlie that she was not the same Samantha Carter that he knew, he didn't seem to get it.

"They died on a mission about a month ago, that's how long it has taken me to memorize the SGC schedule to know when I could sneak in and jump to another reality. I missed you guys so much! And Jason doesn't know what to do without you," he explained, his smile disappearing after saying the name of the other boy.

"I'm sorry for you loss, Charlie, but we are not the same people." Sam started. "You cannot come here expecting to be a family again, and who is Jason?"

"Your son, he's four."

Sam just sat there for a minute. How many times she had dreamed of having a family with Jack, but knowing it would never happen. She thought about what this Jason might look like, but stopped herself. "We have to send you back, I'm sorry. And you can't just leave your brother—"

"Oh, he's coming too, he was right behind me, sometimes when going between realities time gets messed up, he could show up at anytime."

That was unnerving, here she was trying to stop herself from thinking about that family and a little boy who would look like her and Jack was coming to the SGC. "Well when he comes through, I'm sending you both back, you can stay here—"

"You're worried about the phasing out thing, we won't phase out, we perfected that in all our travels between space-times." He was trying for any way to convince her to let them stay.

"No, that's not it. What you're looking for—"

"You don't even know how to send us back! And I'm not going to tell you until I am allowed to see my father." He had that stubborn look that Jack always gets down flat. And he had interrupted her for the last time. Sam knew there was no way she was going to persuade him to talk to her anymore, he was done speaking, that was perfectly clear, so she sent him to one of the extra rooms and had an airman call General O'Neill and tell him it's urgent.


	3. Chapter 3

"What's this all about? Why did I just fly 5 hours here?" Jack had arrived seven hours after Charlie had come through the gate in his dress blues, he hated wearing those, but the occasion had called for it.

He looked around and saw Sam walking up to him with that look on her face that meant he probably wasn't going to like what she was about to tell him. It was so good to see her again, it had been too long.

"Sir, welcome back" She said, trying to put on a smile.

"No pleasantries, Carter, what's going on?"

"Why don't we talk in the briefing room," she suggested and led him there. Once at the table she dove in.

"Charlie O'Neill from another reality came through the Stargate approximately seven hours ago." She stated, like it was any other fact, except for that tell-tale look on her face. Jack just frowned at the news. His mind had started reeling when she had said his sons name. "He came in a desperate attempt at getting his family back together, you see, in his reality his parents—" she gestured between herself and Jack "—recently died so he came here to find them, but we are not the same people as the ones he knows, um, knew, and we have to send them back right away, I wasn't even going to tell you, I know how hard this must be for you, but he wont tell me how to send them back until he saw you." She got through her explanation quickly; Jack could tell she had been rehearsing it. Still he just frowned at her. "You keep saying send "them" home, is there someone else with him?"

"Um, not yet, but apparently his brother is on his way here—"

"UNSCHEDULED OFFWORLD ACTIVATION"

Jack and Sam walked over to the big window that looked down on the gate room and watched a boy of about four walk out of the Stargate, at the sight of the armed airmen he began to cry. Sam clutched at Jacks shirt at the sight of the small boy; he was the spitting image of her, with a few of Jack's features thrown in here and there. He was also quite amazed at the feeling that rose up inside him when he saw the child. They both quickly made their way down to the embarkation room. The airmen lowered their weapons and Jason saw Sam and Jack standing there. The look on his face immediately changed to one of great happiness.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"Oh, not again," Sam exasperated. "Come on, we'll take you to your brother."

With that she picked him up and the three of them started walking down the corridors toward Charlie's room, getting a lot of strange looks from passer-bys. Jack kept staring at the boy, he had also thought of a time where he and Sam could be together and what their offspring might look like, this was way too good to be true, and of course it was, they had to send the boys back, no matter how much he wished they had come from this reality. _Alternate realities, sheesh, why can't they just stay in their alternate places._ They passed Daniel, "Who is that?!?"

"Just follow please, Daniel," Sam said. Jack was silent, this was way too much for him.

Jack was about to open the door when they reached Charlie's room when Sam asked "Sir, you haven't said much, are you sure you're ready to see him?"

"I'm sure, Carter. He's not really my son anyway, right." He replied and opened the door, only half believing that statement himself.

Seeing his son was going to bring up many more feelings than he would have ever allowed himself to feel.


	4. Chapter 4

Carter pushed open the door open and stood to the side so Jack could walk in first. He stopped when he saw the boy sitting on the bed. Charlie saw him and stood up to salute him before walking over and putting his arms around him in a slightly awkward hug. Jack just sort of stood there patting him on the back before wrapping his arms tighter around him and holding him while shaking with unshed tears. Jack O'Neill doesn't cry. He was overwhelmed with how seeing Charlie made all those feelings well up inside him and overflow. He finally let him go and straightened up acting like nothing had happened.

Sam decided that was her queue to come into the room and Jason squirmed out of his 'mothers' arms to go to his brother. Charlie reached down and picked him up.

"Welcome home Jason." He whispered into his brother's ear.

"Hang on there, Charlie. This is not your home; this is a completely different place. You have seen the General; now we have to send you back." Carter wanted nothing more than to talk to the little boy. How she wished she could hold him again, but he's not hers. She needs to stay completely objective, something she had gotten very good at.

Jack sat down on the end of the bed, the weight of the last few moments settling in on him. He didn't know what to make of this situation.

"Wait, I want details. We have met ourselves from different realities before, but we never seem to ask the questions that we really want answered. How are you not dead? And if you're not dead, why aren't I still with your mother?" Jack stopped himself before asking the other obvious question, glancing at Sam. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments before they both turned their attention back to the boy. Jason had left Charlie and clambered back into Sam's arms.

"I'm dead in this reality?" Charlie asked, not answering any of Jack's questions.

"Yes, now, explain that."

Charlie looked confused. "How did I- I mean the other Charlie- die?"

Jack looked uncomfortable; of course he hated talking about his son's death. It was probably the worst day of his life. He was eternally grateful when Sam spoke up.

"He found…. his father's gun…" She trailed off, hoping Charlie could finish her thought.

He did. "Oh, I just shot myself in the foot. Mom never forgave you, always saying what could have happened, which I guess did…" He looked just as uncomfortable as Jack, the same expression and everything. "Right after it happened she wanted a divorce, we don't see her much. A few years ago you and Mom-" He gestured toward Sam, "Got married; she's not in the military in my reality." How he know to answer Jacks unasked question he couldn't figure out, although he was his son.

Jack was staring at him, still disbelieving what was happening. He could have his son back. But, of course, Carter was right; they had to be sent back. As much as he hated that fact. He could have a family again. One look at Sam and he knew she was thinking along the same lines. The young boy in her arms was playing with her short hair and she was smiling down on him like only a mother can. There had to be a way to solve this.

"Carter."

"Yes, Sir."

"Hallway."

"Yes, Sir."

With that she put the boy down and the two of them walked out of the room to discuss what the plan of action was.

"I know they can't stay." He left a heavy 'but' feeling at the end.

"General…"

"But I wish they could."

"I actually think they should stay for a little while, we could help them adjust to life without their parents, which might be difficult because we are a lot like them."

Wow, she wanted them there as much as he did, that was very surprising for Jack. He was sure she would want to send them home right away before anything got out of hand. Obviously the boys had had an influence on her as well.

"I agree, although I can't help but think if that's the best thing for 'em."

"Well, Charlie is set on staying here. He's a sixteen year old boy, I think we'll be hard pressed to make him change his mind."  
"He seems to be like me in that regard" The lines were beginning to blur as to whose son that boy was. Jack knew it, but he didn't think twice about it, he knew the lines were there, and he and Sam both knew they would be sending the boys back sooner or later.

"Alright, let's tell them they get to stay a while."


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, let's tell them they get to stay a while." Jack said. Already turning to go back into the room, but Sam grabbed his arm.

"Don't you think we should tell General Landry about this development? It is his base." Always the thinker, that one.

"I guess you're right, I'll tell Landry, you can handle the boys on your own right?"

"Um, sure, Sir." She didn't seem too excited about the prospect of being with them on her own, but Jack didn't think he could handle it. Losing his son was the hardest thing he ever had to go through in his life. Seeing him alive was wreaking havoc with his heart (which wasn't in the best shape of its life) so he needed to get out of there.

He made his way to Landry's office.

"Welcome back to the SGC, Jack." Landry said as Jack walked into his office, although, it would always be Hammonds office to him.

"Thank you. I'm sure you are aware of what is going on."

"Two boys who came through the gate claiming to be yours and Colonel Carter's children from another reality. Is that about right?"

"Yeah. We can't send them back, so we've decided to let them stay a while. With your permission of course, it is your base after all."

"Carter remind you of that, did she?" Landry was smarter than he looked, or maybe just smarter than Jack. He didn't know.

Landry gave his permission and Jack headed back to the boys, he didn't know how much longer Carter could stand.

Colonel Samantha Carter had gone through a lot in her last nine-ten years at the SGC, but none of it prepared her for this. She was overwhelmed. She was waiting very impatiently for O'Neill to get back. So far, the boys had been content to just talk to each other. Jason was curled up on Charlie's lap. Watching them, Sam couldn't help but feel the swell of love for them, quickly pushing it down. She couldn't get attached. _Where is Jack_.

And right on queue O'Neill walked through the door.

"How're things going, Cart—" he was cut off by a small child running into him and trying to climb up his legs. He reached down and picked Jason up, a smile spreading across his face before he could stop it. He looked over at Sam and she was smiling at him too. No matter how hard they tried, they were getting very attached to these boys. And Jack had yet to spend time with Charlie.

* * *

It's short, I know. I don't know yet where it's going, help would be greatly apreciated ^_^


End file.
